A Piece of History and a Slice of Cosmetics

By: Katie Schaefer, Cosmetics & Toiletries

Posted: June 10, 2009

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Rounding out the morning session was Ray Rigoletto of International Specialty Products. Similarly to Zhou, Rigoletto discussed polyquaternium-55; however, he discussed the ingredient’s ability to protect hair from thermal stress such as that caused by flat irons. He also reviewed fiber fragmentation as a method for identifying thermal stress on hair or protection of hair by specific ingredients.

After a morning of hair care, attendees gathered for lunch where students in cosmetic science were presented the Best Poster Award, sponsored by DD Chemco. First place was awarded to Rahia Ibrahim of the University of Cincinnati for her poster and research on an improved method for predicting dermis permeability in vitro. Second, third and fourth place went to Jennifer Karr, Amber Evans and Rachna Gajjar, respectively, all from the University of Cinncinnati.

The afternoon session continued with hair, specifically multicultural hair care. Colleen Rocafort of Ciba Corp. moderated the session that was kicked off by Guive Balooch, PhD, of the L’Oréal Institute for Ethnic Hair and Skin, which is located in Chicago. Balooch noted that 70% of African-American women use relaxers to straighten their hair to increase its manageability. However, relaxer treatments can lead to compromised macro strength, and his research used synchrotron X-ray tomography to view this damage on a wide array of hair types, from Nigerian to Jamaican. Balooch noticed that hair damaged by relaxing treatments exhibited cracks and voids. This non-destructive measurement technique according to Balooch can be combined with other techniques to link energy absorption to protein content and concentration.

Balooch’s colleague, Bradford Pistorio, PhD, continued with what he found to be “the #1 problem for multicultural hair" —hair breakage. Pistorio discussed a consumer study conducted by L'Oréal that found consumers could not decipher between split ends, shedding and breakage. Finally, Trefor Evans, PhD, of TRI/Princeton discussed breakage as well by relating the propensity for breakage in afro hair to Caucasian hair.

Two days were not nearly enough to pack in all the technology the seminar had to offer, as evidenced by the number of sessions and pre-event courses held. Attendees ate up the wealth of information that came their way, in addition to drinking in a little of the culture that Chicago had ready and waiting.